Social media sparks community movement to help Racquet Club fire victims

Jo Ciavaglia @JoCiavaglia

Monday

Jul 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2013 at 8:00 AM

All that George Redner wanted was to help a friend of a friend who lost everything in Friday’s four-alarm fire at the the Racquet Club apartments. So he posted a request on Facebook.

Hours after Redner posted the request for clothing or household items, he had enough items donated — or promises of donations — to furnish three houses. And the donations keep coming.

He isn’t the only one thinking about the Racquet Club apartment fire victims. What started as social media outreach has morphed into a community movement.

Items started piling up in the driveways of two PTO members at Samuel Everitt Elementary School, which serves the apartments, after members of the parents’ group posted a request on their Facebook page seeking donations.

“We cannot begin to imagine their loss, but we can begin to help them get back on their feet in some way,” says the post on the Facebook page.

Missy Kitzmiller said she posted the request for donations on the PTO page Friday night after learning about the fire.

The next morning, she told her husband to text her if any donations came in. He sent her two text messages saying clothing was dropped off.

Then the messages stopped, but she was happy they had something.

Little did she know, her husband had stopped texting her about the donations because he was too busy collecting them.

“I’m flabbergasted,” she said.

By early afternoon, the driveway to her Middletown home was filled with donations including dishes, pots and pans, high chairs, car seats, bags of clothing — some clothes with price tags still on them — and more food than she could possibly know what to do with.

“Every time I went outside I got goose bumps,” she said. “People came with two cans of soup. I think that is so heart-warming.”

A local plumbing business, McHale’s, donated a box truck to protect the items in her driveway.

“We asked people to help, but I didn’t realize it was going to be so huge,” she said.

The Everitt PTO has joined with state Rep. Frank Farry to start helping the families recover their lives. A central collection has been created at Walter Miller Elementary School and donations will be accepted on Monday, said Farry, also chief of the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Co.

In his initial post, Redner asked people to drop off items at his family’s home, but when furniture offers started arriving, panic set in, said his wife, Jacqui, a Pennsbury School Board member.

“We didn’t think it would spiral out of control,” she said. “I don’t have the room at my house for furniture — I was thinking a couple bags of clothing that people would drop at my house.”

Her husband belongs to the Bucks County chapter of Knights of Inferno, a motorcycle club. He learned Friday that friends of two members lost everything in the fire. He wanted to do what he could to get them back on their feet, Jacqui Redner said.

So far they’ve had offers to donate three “entire” households worth of furniture – and the offers and items continued to arrive throughout Saturday.

The donations will be stored at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Falls until Monday when they’ll be moved to Walter Miller Elementary, Redner said.

She has secured two donated box trucks that will be used to pick up donated furniture and help distribute it to the families. Knight of Inferno members have volunteers to move the donations.

“We can’t replace their pictures,” she added. “But we can help replace the things they need.”

Red Cross spokesman Dave Schrader said as of 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the agency had given financial assistance to 15 families, 28 people in all. More are waiting with an expectation that others will need help in the days and weeks ahead.

He added many families are choosing not to get Red Cross aid.

The families need toiletries, detergent, pet supplies and new or gently used clothing. Items may be brought to the Walter Miller Elementary, 10 Cobalt Ridge Drive, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday.

Follow Us

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Bucks County Courier Times ~ 8400 N. Bristol Pk, Levittown, PA 19057 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service